Miscellaneous Exercises 209
are solutions of the heat equation. (These are sometimes called heat
polynomials.) Find a linear combination of them that satisfies the
boundary conditionsu( 0 ,t)=0,u(a,t)=t.
20.Suppose thatu(x,t)is a positive function that satisfies
∂^2 u
∂x^2 =
∂u
∂t.
Show that the function
w(x,t)=−^2
u
∂u
∂x
satisfies the nonlinear partial differential equation calledBurgers’ equa-
tion:
∂w
∂t +w
∂w
∂x=
∂^2 w
∂x^2.
21.Find a solution of the Burgers’ equation that satisfies the conditions
w( 0 ,t)= 0 ,w( 1 ,t)= 0 , 0 <t,
w(x, 0 )= 1 , 0 <x< 1.
22.Taking the functionu(x,t)given here as a solution of the heat equation
(withk=1), find a solutionwof Burgers’ equation. Verify thatwsatis-
fies Burgers’ equation.
u(x,t)=√^1
4 πt
exp
(
−x^2
4 t
)
.
23.Consider a solid metal bar surrounded by a finite quantity of water con-
fined in a water jacket. If the bar and the water are at different tempera-
tures, they will exchange heat. Letu 1 andu 2 be the temperatures in the
bar and in the water, respectively. Heat balances for the water and the bar
give these two equations:
c 1
du 1
dt =h(u^2 −u^1 ),
c 2 dudt^2 =h(u 1 −u 2 ).
Here,c 1 andc 2 are the heat capacities of the bar and the water, respec-
tively, andhis the product of the convection coefficient with the area
of the bar–water interface. Find temperaturesu 1 andu 2 assuming initial
conditionsu 1 ( 0 )=T 0 ,u 2 ( 0 )=0.